Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Joy of Obeying
128 Happy are all who honor the Lord with fear, and who walk in His ways. 2 For you will eat the fruit of your hands. You will be happy and it will be well with you. 3 Your wife will be like a vine with much fruit within your house. Your children will be like olive plants around your table. 4 This is the good that will come to the man who honors the Lord with fear.
5 May the Lord do good things for you from Zion. And may you see good come to Jerusalem all the days of your life. 6 Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.
27 Do not talk much about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring.
2 Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth. Let a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is heavy, but to be made angry by a fool weighs more than both of them.
4 Anger causes trouble and a bad temper is like a flood, but who can stand when there is jealousy?
5 Sharp words spoken in the open are better than love that is hidden.
6 The pains given by a friend are faithful, but the kisses of one who hates you are false.
7 He who is full hates honey, but any bitter thing is sweet to a hungry man.
8 Like a bird that goes away from her nest, so is a man who goes away from his home.
9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so are a man’s words sweet to his friend.
10 Do not leave your own friend or your father’s friend alone, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your trouble. A neighbor who is near is better than a brother who is far away.
11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, so I may answer him who puts me to shame.
12 A wise man sees sin and hides himself, but the fool goes on and suffers for it.
13 Take the man’s coat who has given himself as trust for what a stranger owes. And hold him to his promise who has given it as trust for a sinful woman.
14 He who praises his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning will be thought of as saying bad things against him.
15 An arguing woman is like water falling drop by drop on a day it is raining. 16 To try to stop her is like trying to stop the wind, or like trying to catch oil in his right hand.
17 Iron is made sharp with iron, and one man is made sharp by a friend.
18 He who cares for the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who cares for the one he works for will be honored.
19 As water acts as a mirror to a face, so the heart of man acts as a mirror to a man.
20 The place of the dead is never filled, and the eyes of man are never filled.
21 The melting-pot is for silver and the fire for gold, and a man is tested by the praise he receives.
22 Even if you crush a fool in a pot used for crushing grain, his foolish way will not leave him.
23 Know well how your flocks are doing, and keep your mind on your cattle. 24 Riches do not last forever, and a crown does not pass from family to family. 25 When the grass is gone, the new plants are seen, and the plants of the mountains are gathered in. 26 The lambs will be for your clothes, and the goats will bring the price of a field. 27 There will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of all your house, and a living for your young women.
8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Clean up your hearts, you who want to follow the sinful ways of the world and God at the same time. 9 Be sorry for your sins and cry because of them. Be sad and do not laugh. Let your joy be turned to sorrow. 10 Let yourself be brought low before the Lord. Then He will lift you up and help you.
Do Not Talk Against Each Other
11 Christian brothers, do not talk against anyone or speak bad things about each other. If a person says bad things about his brother, he is speaking against him. And he will be speaking against God’s Law. If you say the Law is wrong, and do not obey it, you are saying you are better than the Law. 12 Only God can say what is right or wrong. He made the Law. He can save or put to death. How can we say if our brother is right or wrong?
13 Listen! You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city and stay a year and make money.” 14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? It is like fog. You see it and soon it is gone. 15 What you should say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But instead you are proud. You talk loud and big about yourselves. All such pride is sin. 17 If you know what is right to do but you do not do it, you sin.
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